Men tend to achieve higher response accuracy than women on surveys of political knowledge. We investigated the possibility that this performance gap is moderated by factors that render the communicative context of a survey intellectually threatening to women and thereby induce stereotype threat. In a telephone survey of college students' political…

Test-item writing efforts typically results in item pools with an undesirable correlational structure between the content attributes of the items and their statistical information. If such pools are used in computerized adaptive testing (CAT), the algorithm may be forced to select items with less than optimal information, that violate the content…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of various cognitive abilities and aspects of math performance with computational estimation skill among third graders. Students (n=315) were assessed on language, nonverbal reasoning, concept formation, processing speed, long-term memory, working memory, inattentive behavior, basic reading…

This investigation considers the instructional effects of color as an over-arching context variable when learning from computer displays. The purpose of this investigation is to examine the posttest retrieval effects of color as a local, extra-item non-verbal lesson context variable for constructed-response versus multiple-choice posttest…

This study investigated factors related to score differences on computerized and paper-and-pencil versions of a series of primary K-3 reading tests. Factors studied included item and student characteristics. The results suggest that the score differences were more related to student than item characteristics. These student characteristics include…

This article considers and illustrates a strategy to study effects of school context on differential item functioning (DIF) in large-scale assessment. The approach employs a hierarchical generalized linear modeling framework to (a) detect DIF, and (b) identify school-level correlates of the between-group differences in item performance. To…

We report on a study of what happened when we recycled a conceptual examination question in a first-year university physics course. The question, which was used for three consecutive years, asked about an astronaut's experience of weighing in an orbiting space-craft. The original intention was to use a phenomenographic approach to look for…

The premise of a great deal of current research guiding policy development has been that accommodations are the catalyst for student performance differences. Rather than accepting this premise, two studies were conducted to investigate the influence of extended time and content knowledge on the performance of ninth-grade students who took a…

Data were extracted from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS), a national sample of more than 20,000 kindergartners and first-graders. Fifty-one social studies and science test items were combined into a General Knowledge Test. This test was individually administered to each child with no reading required. General Knowledge Test scores…

A cognitive lab technique (n=156) was used to investigate interactions between individual factors and item factors presumed to affect assessment validity for diverse students, including English language learners. Findings support the concept of "access"--an interaction between specific construct-irrelevant item features and individual…

This study, a partial replication of Bruhn de Garavito (1999a; 1999b), investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults at an advanced level of proficiency. The L2 acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by native French and…

The purpose of the study was to determine comparability of an online version to the original paper-pencil version of Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT2). This study employed methods from both Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). Findings from CTT analyses supported the reliability and discriminant validity of both versions.…

Achieve launched this study to help inform the decisions states are making about high school assessments by providing greater insights into the world of college admissions and placement testing. Achieve analyzed more than 2,000 questions from college admissions and placement exams to determine how these tests compare to one another and how well…

More than any other of its aspects, assessment plays a central role in determining the quality of education. Quality of primary/basic education (QoE) can be viewed as the extent to which the process of education at the primary education level maximizes desirable outcomes in terms of cognitive, affective and psychomotor behaviour of the learners.…

The appropriate analysis of students' responses to an assessment is an essential step in improving the quality of the assessment itself as well as staff teaching and student learning. Many academics are unfamiliar with the formal processes used to analyze assessment results; the standard statistical methods associated with analyzing the validity…